Ramallah: The Palestinian leadership in the West Bank wants to reconsider its bilateral relations with the United States following Washington’s veto in the United Nations Security Council of full UN membership for Palestine.
“The United States has violated all international laws and disregarded all promises regarding the two-state solution and achieving peace in the region,” Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told the official Palestinian news agency WAFA on Saturday.
The US must recognise that the region will not stabilise without a just solution to the Palestinian question issue, Abbas continued.
“We will reconsider bilateral relations with the United States to ensure the protection of our people’s interests,” he said.
He also criticised the Washington’s support for Israel, for example by supplying the country with weapons during the Gaza war.
Abbas, who is not very popular among Palestinians, described the US veto in the UN Security Council as disappointing and irresponsible.
The Palestinian leadership would develop a new strategy to advance the Palestinian cause, he pledged.
A resolution in favour of full membership for a Palestinian state at the United Nations failed in the UN Security Council on Thursday due to a veto by the US.
The US government’s position is that an agreement with Israel on a two-state solution is a prerequisite for recognizing full UN membership.
An application for full UN membership for a state of Palestine had already failed in the Security Council in 2011. Of the 193 UN member states, 139 have so far recognized Palestine as an independent state. Germany is not one of them.
Abbas had already threatened in the past to sever all ties with the US government, but nothing followed.
A large majority of Palestinians want him to resign, surveys have showed. According to observers, the beleaguered Palestinian president is dependent on the US. Washington is counting on the Palestinian Authority, which Abbas heads, to be reformed and to take back control of the Gaza Strip after the ongoing war has ended.
Hamas forcibly expelled Abbas’ party from the coastal strip in 2007.
–IANS/DPA